Seen in the News

[Tripps]

Given Ammon in a word association test - my instant reply would be Wrigley

They had some interesting names in those days. I like Zilpah and Elkanah.

[Stanley]

Thanks for that David, I knew nothing of him. Reminds me of Tim Bobbin in Milnrow. I suspect some of my responses to a word association test would be as esoteric as yours. Too much reading and being nosey!
Funnily enough a quotation came to mind this morning during one of my meandering thought processes. I was thinking about contracting disease by contact with people, this led me to Howard Hughes and his fear of infection which turned him into being an eccentric recluse in his hotel room and that led to the quotation; "I used to think coming was the best feeling in the world but going has it beat by a mile.". I leave it to you to work out the associations that got me there! (Clue, think about post bellum Deep South. Come to think that's equally odd ball!)
My mind has now gone to Rorschach ink blot tests as I wrote that! The mind is a fascinating territory.
[It's just struck me that a Shrink could have a field day with that post.]

[Tizer]

`Gardens help towns and cities beat countryside for tree cover' LINK
Low lying areas around Boston have few trees - not a surprise given that the land probably floods often. The Somerset Levels have few trees and it's almost a mono-culture in places with only various species of willow.

[plaques]

More spooky connections. I've just walked in the house after talking to our tree man about giving some of the trees a crown lift. ie: trimming the lower branches and putting more shape to the tree. He took a number of photos to send off to the council arborist for official approval. All our trees are under TPO restrictions. Trees are like pets they need to be looked after and they cost money to do so. Too many are just neglected until they get out of hand and then become a liability.

[Stanley]

My mind's at it again. Mention trees Ken and Paul Robeson begins to sing in my head; "I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree."

[Stanley]

See THIS report about the town of Asbestos in Quebec changing its name. At one time, until it closed eight years ago, it had the biggest asbestos mine in the world.

[Tizer]

`Millennials all over the world have lost faith in democracy' The Australian
That's a new report on several news services today but I also turned up this from 2016....
`Harvard research suggests that an entire global generation has lost faith in democracy' LINK

Do you think they are trying to tell us something?

[Stanley]

Not surprising Peter. Why should they have any respect for such a dysfunctional system? It's the only logical response. Bad and sad news but I fear it is true.

[Tizer]

The `brushing' scam seems to be getting more common...
`Amazon parcel scam targets woman eight months after her death' LINK

[Stanley]

Interesting Peter. My first thought is how clever it is. What incentive is there for Amazon to do anything? As far as I can see everyone is a winner except the person who has been scammed.

[Tizer]

As the story gets out there the activity will reduce buyers' confidence in Amazon reviews.

`More pollution expected from stay-home workers' LINK
`Air pollution in big cities could increase because so many people are working from home, a report says. Gas burning from boilers is a major source of local pollution, accounting for 21% of total NOx emissions across Greater London, for instance. Computer modelling predicts that boiler use will rise by 56% this winter due to coronavirus changing work patterns. The report assumes that workers’ offices will continue to be heated for staff still needed in the workplace. It also assumes that NOx emissions from cars will stay roughly the same, because although fewer people are going to the office, many are using cars when previously they would have taken buses or trains. The study from the think tank ECIU warns that the predicted spike in emissions may threaten the UK’s legally binding air quality targets. .'.

[Stanley]

I always ignore the reviews anyway Peter. They are uncorroborated opinions and as such, useless as evidence.
I heard a report about pollution from domestic boilers making substantially the same point. I always said that the only change in pollution from coal fires to gas heating was that the pollution from gas is invisible. On a similar line of thinking I can never understand why gas stoves inside the house have been allowed to be used. Only conclusion I can come to is that the only answer to it is electric stoves and our generating capacity couldn't cope with the increased load.
There is another threat to pollution targets. Due to a combination of bad management and lax contracts the cost of electrification of main line railways is now so high that almost all contracts have been stopped and we continue to order new diesel powered locomotives for use on lines that haven't been electrified. Even worse some units are Hybrid so as to cope with no electrified stretches of the same route. This means that they are dragging round the extra weight caused by having to have both systems installed and of course the units are more expensive.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on the response to Marcus Rashford's campaign to provide hungry children with food.
Elsewhere the government is coming under bitter criticism for their refusal to fund fee school meals until Easter 2021 on the grounds they have already put £Xbillion into the benefit system. This is seen as a very clear signal that the prospect of kids going to bed hungry carries no weight with them.
Whoever advises the government on what is now known as 'the optics' has either made a big mistake or has been ignored. It's such a no-brainer I suspect it's the latter. From the public response it looks as though many others have the same opinion.

[Tripps]

This Tory Government have no idea about the psychology of 'ordinary people'.

I pinched this from Nolics site (again). The 'optics' 'of this will be damaging and for what it would cost versus the bad feeling it generates against them, should be reverse ferreted inmmediately. It probably will be.

save a quid.jpg

[Stanley]

Even if they do David it will only be pragmatism that drives them, not a change of heart.

[Tizer]

It's interesting to see what the candidates go for and the potential unintended consequences of some of the choices. We know that Trump loves `YMCA' - but isn't that said to be a gay anthem?
`US election 2020: What we can learn from Trump and Biden's musical choices' LINK

[Tripps]

it will only be pragmatism that drives them,

Indeed, and there will be a lot more 'pragmatic' decisions taken in the next few years. Minor details, such as free school dinners during holidays, are getting too much attention, and clouding the broader picture. It's time politics was removed from the situation, but I'm not optimistic that it will.

The virus is in charge.

[Stanley]

"The virus is in charge."
I think you may have put your finger on the heart of the problem there David. And as my Dad used to say about 'M&B' used to treat Influenza, the cure was worse than the disease. There is a good chance that the way we are treating cases and the general pandemic is creating more problems, many of which are not yet fully understood. These of course are in addition to unemployment and subsequent poverty.

[Tizer]

I'll bet a lot of things get thrown away with batteries still in them...
`The explosive problem of 'zombie' batteries' LINK

[Stanley]

Good link Peter. I have long been aware of the number of cargo fires caused on freight aircraft by Lithium batteries despite the strong regulations governing their carriage. Good point about cars....

[Tizer]

Let's hope it stays that way after covid-19...
`European support for populist beliefs falls, YouGov survey suggests' Guardian
`Support for populist beliefs in Europe has fallen markedly over the past year, a major YouGov survey suggests, with significantly fewer people across a range of countries likely to agree with key statements designed to measure it. The YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project, a survey of about 26,000 people in 25 countries designed with the Guardian, showed a more or less steep decline in populist tendencies in 2020 in all eight of the European countries also surveyed last year...'.

[Stanley]

I want to see it drop suddenly in the US this week!

[plaques]

Sad day for Barlick, newspaper report...WORKERS at Rolls-Royce have announced that planned strike action will take place on Friday November 6 and continue for three weeks in opposition to proposed job cuts.
Rolls will never give in to strike action so unless an agreement of some description can be negotiated before this date then I'm afraid that's the end of any large scale manufacturing at Barlick. If they could get some promise however tenuous that work would return when things improve is better than sealing their fate for ever by going on strike.

[Stanley]

I fear you may be right Ken. I've been warning for years that nothing lasts for ever. We learned that lesson when we lost cotton but appear to have forgotten since then. Striking can only make things worse.
What people forget is that Rolls doesn't make money by selling engines but by monitoring and servicing them in flight. That market has gone as the majority are grounded.
One thing I have noted is that Neston Tank were in and out regularly dealing with high level waste from the processes. I haven't seen them at all lately.

[plaques]

Lord Tony Greaves more or less told that the Colne to Skipton rail line has hit the buffers. Railway The whole issue is now being buried in the maize of procedures and covid finances. Not a peep from Mr Stephenson MP who has been championing the link at every opportunity. (he should never have stood next to Chris Grayling. (Former Shadow Secretary of State for Transport). Like the Dodo the last of its remains will be thrown on the funeral pyre on Bonfire night.